Divyenndu on Mirzapur: vintage Munna returns unhinged

Divyenndu says Mirzapur: The Movie brings back the vintage Munna — unhinged and all guns blazing — after fans demanded his return. The actor told Rediff it felt surreal to revisit the role years later, and that the big-screen leap from the OTT series keeps the original characters intact as theatres race toward strong early box-office numbers.

For longtime viewers of the crime saga, that promise matters. Munna Tripathi was never a side note; he was the chaotic pulse of the Tripathi empire. Now Divyenndu is selling a return to that same volatility — not a reinvented soft reboot, but the character fans remember from the series peak.

The remarks land as nostalgia then and now collides with a rare theatrical experiment: an OTT hit jumping to the big screen while its original stars still own the mythology.

Key Takeaways

• Divyenndu promises the “vintage Munna, unhinged” and an all-guns-blazing avatar in Mirzapur: The Movie.
• He calls the return surreal after years away and says the film is “for the fans” who asked for Munna back.
• He frames the project as the first OTT show of its kind to release in theatres, with drama built for a bigger canvas.
• Early India box-office tallies put Day 1 at about Rs 25.75 crore, with Day 2 tracking toward a Rs 45 crore-plus cumulative pace.
• Reviews describe a sprawling three-hour-plus underworld drama that expands into Rajasthan and teases more to come.

What did Divyenndu say about Munna in Mirzapur?

In an interview with Rediff, Divyenndu was blunt about the tone he chased. “You will see Munna in his all guns blazing avatar, the vintage Munna, unhinged, just going for it,” he said.

He added that he tried to deliver “that season where Munna was absolutely unhinged.” The pitch is clear: this is not a tempered, mid-career polish of the role. It is a deliberate rewind to Munna at full volume.

That framing answers the question many fans had before buying tickets. Would the movie sand down Munna for mass theatres, or lean into the recklessness that made him viral in the first place? Divyenndu is betting on the latter.

Why does the Mirzapur movie feel like a then-and-now moment?

Divyenndu admitted the gap since he last played Munna created real doubt. “It was surreal to go back to Munna after so many years,” he told Rediff. He wondered whether to treat Munna as a new character or copy his own earlier performance.

What settled it, he said, was the audience. “I'm genuinely happy because the fans asked for it, and Munna is coming back! So this one is for the fans.” In other words, the film is positioned as a callback rather than a cold reboot.

He also argued that Mirzapur has “that quality to translate a narrative onto the bigger canvas, be it the drama, the imagery or the whole plot.” He called the theatrical release a first for an OTT show of this kind, which helps explain the industry buzz around the jump from streaming rooms to multiplexes.

Career-wise, he placed the film in a busy stretch that followed Glory and Peddi, with Madgaon Express 2 prep next. He also said he wants time off the radar after a hectic year of shoots and promotions — a reminder that nostalgia cycles can be as exhausting for actors as they are thrilling for fans.

How is Mirzapur: The Movie performing and what do critics say?

According to The Times of India, Mirzapur: The Movie opened in theatres on 4 September 2026 and made a strong domestic start. Day 1 collections were reported at Rs 25.75 crore across 11,135 shows.

On Day 2, a Sacnilk-cited update put the film at Rs 12.80 crore so far across 8,112 shows, with India gross around Rs 46 crore and India net around Rs 38.55 crore as figures were still climbing. The same report said the film was set to cross the Rs 45 crore mark on its second day.

The cast headline names remain familiar: Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal and Divyenndu reprise key roles, while Ravi Kishan joins as a fresh presence. Jitendra Kumar steps in as Bablu Pandit, a role earlier linked to Vikrant Massey in the series. Returning faces include Abhishek Banerjee, Rasika Dugal, Sheeba Chadha, Rajesh Tailang, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Harshita Shekhar Gaur and Shweta Tripathi, per TOI.

NDTV’s review rated the film 2.5 stars and described it as a “sprawling, bloody underworld drama with a sharp twist.” Written by Puneet Krishna and directed by Gurmmeet Singh for Excel Entertainment, the three-hour-plus film is set in 2018 and pushes action beyond Mirzapur into Rajasthan’s sand dunes.

In that plot, Ravi Kishan’s Babban “Babua” Yadav emerges as a major challenger to Akhandanand “Kaleen Bhaiya” Tripathi’s throne. Munna remains central to the Guddu rivalry and to father-son friction inside the Tripathi house — the same emotional engine that made the character stick in the series years ago.

NDTV also flagged a post-credits sequence as a twist that suggests the big-screen Mirzapur story may not end with this outing. For fans who wanted Munna loud again, Divyenndu’s “vintage” promise and the early box-office heat make the same point from two directions: the old Mirzapur still sells, especially when it refuses to go quiet.

On the broader industry chatter around privilege and opportunity, Divyenndu kept the focus on craft. Merit on screen is what matters, he said — whether someone is an insider or outsider — because better merit leads to better films and fresher stories. It is a secondary note in the interview, but it fits his larger claim that he still chases new characters after theatre and FTII training.